General Donation Procedures:
When you give at one of our fixed sites or at a blood drive, you will be asked to complete a brief, confidential questionnaire concerning your medical history, lifestyle, and risk of exposure to infectious agents. Your answers to these questions will help us determine whether or not you are an eligible donor. If you meet the requirements for donating blood, you will then be given a "mini-physical" consisting of a pulse, temperature, blood pressure and iron-level check. This initial screening process and physical exam takes approximately 30 minutes. You will also receive by mail your overall cholesterol test results and blood type.

Apheresis Donations:
Apheresis is an automated donation process that allows you to selectively donate the blood components that are needed for transfusion. Blood is drawn and is passed through a cell separator where the component is collected and the remainder is returned to you. This is different from whole blood donations where the blood components are separated later in laboratories, involving manual secondary handling. Apheresis is very safe. Each donation is medically supervised and is performed using a sterile disposable processing kit which is used only once. The kit is then destroyed.

South Texas Blood & Tissue Center offers 4 types of apheresis donation: dual red blood cell, platelet, plasma and red cell-plasma.

Plasmapheresis:
Plasma, which is 90 percent water, constitutes 55 percent of blood volume. Plasma helps maintain blood pressure, carries blood cells, nutrients, and enzymes. Plasma supplies critical proteins for blood clotting and immunity. Shock and burn victims rely on its lifesaving proteins that are necessary for blood coagulation. Plasma can be frozen and used for up to one year.

Procedure:
This apheresis procedure takes approximately 45 minutes. During this time you may watch a movie or you may bring one of your own to watch while you donate.

Requirements:
The same good health requirements that govern a whole blood donation apply here. You must be 17 years of age or older, weigh at least 110 pounds and be in good general health. 

Advantages:
Every time you give, a patient benefits. Receiving plasma from a single donor reduces the risk of an adverse transfusion reaction from several different donors.

Donors with blood type AB not only have a rare blood type (only four percent of the population is AB), but also an opportunity to save lives in a special way. Donors with AB blood types have "universal donor plasma", so it can be transfused safely into a patient of any blood group.

After a plasma donation, donors must wait 8 weeks before making a blood donation, but only 72 hours for platelets.